Orange Knickers
by TMI
Summary: "I shivered in the cold breeze coming off the lake, watching the reflection of the full moon glimmer on the slight waves. Three AM in a Scottish October was really not the time for a swim in a frigid body of water. Stupid truth or dare. Bloody stupid friends." Lily hadn't expected the full moon to bring a werewolf, a new side of James, or a display of knickers. She got all three.
1. Chapter 1

**Cleaning out some old documents, I stumbled upon this lil finished story that I had never posted - might as well put it up here, even if I have no idea at what point that I wrote it ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯** **enjoy? (:**

I shivered in the cold breeze coming off the lake, watching as the reflection of the huge full moon glimmered on the slight waves. Three AM in a Scottish October was really not the time for a swim in a frigid body of water. Stupid sleepover. Stupid truth or dare. Bloody stupid friends.

It was mostly Marlene's fault, but the rest of the lot hadn't been much help to me. If it hadn't been Marly's birthday, we wouldn't have been having a birthday sleepover in the Gryffindor common room. I would've been snug, sound asleep, in my wonderful, cozy bed. That was a place I would properly belong on this freezing October night.

Instead, I stood out here on the chilly grounds with only thin blue plaid pajamas to protect me from the elements. And soon I wouldn't even have those. My stupid friends had somehow cajoled me into accepting the dare to sneak outside and go skinny dipping in the lake.

"C'mon, Lily," they had whined, "it'll be easy for you to get out and back in the castle undetected. You're brilliant enough to manage that." Psh, maybe I did, but that didn't mean I found it fun to go outside the castle at this time of night!

"It's not even like you're going very far," Em pointed out with a winning smile. "It's just to the lake and back. Simple."

"If anyone can manage it, it's you," Mary added, obviously going for the ego. I had narrowed my eyes at her, and she just widened hers innocently back.

"C'mon Lils, this would be brilliant," Petra begged. She dared to use the pleading puppy dog eyes on me, her hazel irises behind horn-rimmed glasses making me instantly indecisive. The girls instantly seemed to sense that I was weakening, drawing closer and smiling cajolingly.

"How would you even know I did it? I could go into the hall and cast an aguamenti on myself, then come back dripping and say I did it," I pointed out desperately. I strongly doubted they planned on coming with me on this outing, so I didn't even really get why they thought it would be remotely entertaining to sit and wait for me to return from supposedly completing the dare.

"We'll use this to watch!" Marlene replied swiftly, whipping out a small purple object and brandishing it in the air with no small amount of triumph.

"What exactly is that?" I asked, unimpressed by the itty bitty gadget. It looked like a hairclip. How would a hairclip help in this scenario?

"It's called a SpyScoper," Marlene explained, handing me the hairclip-like object. "You activate it with a spell and then attach it to somebody, and it acts as a pair of eyes to see what they're doing. It's like you're standing right beside them."

"Are you going to play it back on a magical VCR or something?" I asked sarcastically.

I was met with blank looks, a reminder that all four of the witches who I sat with were raised in the wizarding world. Consequently, they had no idea what a VCR was or what it did.

"Nevermind," I muttered, inspecting the SpyScoper again instead. "I've never heard of one of these before."

"They're a prototype," Marlene replied, "one of my uncle's inventions. He sent me this one as a birthday gift." Marlene plucked the SpyScoper from my hand and neatly pinned it to the collar of my flannel pajama top. "It doesn't have any sound though, which is a shame. We'd love to hear your freezing gasps as you plunge into the lake," Marlene added sweetly.

I growled, grabbing my wand and standing without comment as they squealed happily as I made my way to the portrait hole. "Wish me luck then, you arseholes," I sighed, stepping through and wondering why I was actually doing this.

After some careful, stealthy, espionage-movie-worthy maneuvering, I was safely outside with the huge full moon glowing above my head and the lake lapping at my feet. I slid my feet from my slippers first, imagining my friends' gleeful giggles as they watched me from the SpyScoper clipped to the collar of my flannel pajama top. Sighing, I unbuttoned said top, folding it neatly and laying it on top of my loafers. Reluctantly following were my lovely cozy flannel pants, tossed aside before I could regather my wits and abandon this idiotic dare. The girls would never let me live it down if I got this far and then didn't actually get in the water.

I now stood there in only faded orange knickers, my favorite bra, and a cheap camisole. My toes were freezing in the damp grass, and I groaned as I bent down, clenching my wand in one hand and reaching to retrieve the SpyScoper. I would have to pin it in my hair or something for my sadistic friends to get a better view of their cruel and unusual dare. With a furtive glance towards the silent windows of Hogwarts, I reached down and started to draw up the hem of my camisole. Maybe I could cast a warming charm on myself before entering the lake to numb the effects of the frigid water.

Just as the hem of my camisole reached my ribs, a bloodcurdling howl made me freeze. Suddenly clumsy fingers slipped, and both my camisole and the SpyScoper dropped from them. My wand stayed clenched in a suddenly trembling grip, but I had no idea where the SpyScoper had fallen to in the long grass. I was more preoccupied at the moment with a more pressing question: what had made that godawful howling noise?

It sounded again, and my stomach condensed into ice and dropped to my feet. I was frozen in shock and fear instead of the cold now. What a lovely change.

Abruptly, a huge dark shape burst out of the Forbidden Forest. It came loping up the incline at a startlingly fast pace, headed straight for me. A long snout quivered as it pointed in my direction, and I trembled as I realized what the snout belonged to. Of course, I should've known already. Brilliant Lily Evans had overlooked one huge danger about her night outing. It was a full moon.

And the creature coming towards me at a frighteningly swift speed was a werewolf.

So naturally, I simply stared as it came barreling towards me. In the back corner of my mind I heard a vague little voice screaming at me to do something, but I couldn't bring myself to actually act on it. My wand seemed suddenly clumsy and dormant in my cold fingers.

Snap out of it! I screamed at myself. I wanted to be in auror training next year! What kind of head girl couldn't even raise her wand to defend herself from a charging werewolf? A pathetic one, that's what. And I was not a pathetic head girl.

Gathering all of my strength and Gryffindor courage that I really hoped was still there, I raised my trembling hand and directed my wand towards the werewolf. It was only twenty meters away when the first spell I could think of garbled out of my throat in a strangled yell. "AGUAMENTI!"

Aguamenti? Seriously? Could I honestly think of nothing more effective than a splash of water?

Nevertheless, a whip of cloudy water spiraled from my wandtip, lashing forward to strike the werewolf in the face. Miraculously, it halted, pawing at its eyes momentarily. It was obviously flabbergasted by both my inability to think of a proper spell and the sudden presence of water up its snout, but its current astonishment probably wouldn't last for long. And once the werewolf started moving again, I was toast. I was utterly vulnerable if I couldn't come up with a good defensive spell in the next fifteen seconds, but for the life of me I couldn't focus enough to think of a spell that could drive off a werewolf.

For Merlin's sake, I didn't even have pants on!

Suddenly, the werewolf's paws dropped, and its liquid black eyes locked on mine. I gulped, unable to look away and unable to think. Heart lodged in my throat, I stepped hesitantly backwards.

And promptly wedged my left heel straight into a gooey pocket of lake mud.

The mud gave under my weight, and I stumbled spectacularly as I sank in up to my ankle. My swamped foot stayed rooted into place while my body tilted and fell backwards. This turned out to be a horrid combination, I found out shortly. My elbows _had_ to land in a patch of pebbles instead of soft grass, obviously, scraping and jarring on the rough surface. My bum also hit the ground hard, my head jolting on my neck as I tried to keep my eyes on the werewolf. Additionally, an ominous crunching noise beneath my back let me know I had just successfully smashed Marlene's new SpyScoper.

Glorious. Simply glorious.

The worst was yet to come though. My left foot was still stuck in an upright position, and as I fell my leg crumpled with me at a sharp, odd angle. A sharp pain knifed through my knee, and I cried out as white fire flared across my vision.

This all happened in about two seconds. Before I knew it, the werewolf was lunging towards me again, wet fur glistening in the moonlight as I tried to blink away the pain and fear. I screamed incomprehensibly, trying desperately to scrape up some sort of attack spell. "Confundo!" I shrieked helplessly, brandishing my wand at the beast. Did a Confundus even work on non-humans? I couldn't remember, literally not even to save my life. I raised my free arm over my head in a weak attempt to protect myself, ignoring the flares of pain my knee was giving off with every minute movement. I couldn't look away as the werewolf leaped at me. I was about to die. I was about to die from a stupid dare.

Then a new roar burst through the night, and a huge black shape rocketed across my vision. It smashed head on into the werewolf, tackling the beast and rolling with it across the grass. I watched in shock as my rescuer wrestled with the werewolf, smacking huge paws at its snout and apparently trying to stun it. The werewolf snapped and growled, scratching at the- the dog. It was a monstrously huge, extremely shaggy black dog that had come to my rescue.

As I gaped idiotically at the dog and the werewolf's fight, a squeaking noise drew my attention to the left. A much smaller shape was perched just to the right of my loafers and pajamas, twitching its whiskers at me frantically. It was an unremarkable gray rat, but intelligence glittered in its beady black eyes. I stared at it unabashedly as the small creature clicked and squeaked at me, waving tiny paws in my direction. If I didn't know better, I'd have said that it appeared to be trying to tell me to flee.

Ah, fleeing! That sounded like an excellent idea at the moment, even if it did come from a random rat sitting next to my shoes. I sat up straight and tried to pull my left foot from the muddy prison it was trapped in.

Unfortunately for me, my newly injured knee did not like to be pulled. Pain flared mercilessly through my leg, and I actually cried out from the agony. Bloody hell, I had really messed something up in that fall. With tears biting at my vision, I leaned forward and tried to dig my foot from the mud with my fingers. Wet earth slid instantly up my fingernails, but I ignored the sensation as I frantically tried to free my swamped appendage. A little dirt was preferable to death.

I had just managed to carefully extract my foot from the mud, wincing in pain all the way, when the werewolf/dog fight came to a climax. The werewolf threw the dog off its back in one powerful motion, sending it sailing through the air down the grassy slope. The dog hit the ground yelling, scrambling to regain its footing in the slippery grass. Meanwhile, the werewolf turned back to me.

My little rat pal squeaked and disappeared instantly. What a trooper.

I tried to hold my knee still in an attempt to stave off pain as the werewolf came charging at me again. Confounding it had obviously not worked, so I tried more along the lines of a spell for more physical damage. "Impedimenta!" I shrieked, my voice cracking as I whipped my wand at the beast. I prayed that this spell would work better than the last two.

Thankfully, it did. Unfortunately, it didn't work very well. Although the werewolf did trip and stumble, it only appeared to be slowed down as if it were wading through jello instead of actually halting its movement. After a few seconds of struggle, it even managed to break free of that.

I truly was a pathetic witch. Here I was, aspiring to be an auror, yet I couldn't even fight off a werewolf even when helped by a random monstrous dog! And as the beast came rocketing towards me, I stared defiantly in its huge black eyes and glared, helpless to move or fight but more irritated at my own helplessness than anything else. Was I really going to get killed by a werewolf in this fashion? Honestly?

Just when my courage was about to waver and I was seriously considering letting out another shriek for good measure, I was once again saved by a huge black shape leaping in the path of the werewolf. Although, this time it simply stood intimidatingly in front of me, acting as a wall as the beast crashed into it. I stared up at the huge stag that was now protecting me, watching in awe as the great racks of its antlers worked as a shield against the werewolf's paws. The stag's muscles strained as it kept its head down and resolutely shoved the werewolf away from me.

What was up with all these animals tonight? It was like I had an entire woodland bodyguard!

While I dazedly marveled at the oddities of my night outing, the werewolf spat and howled at the stag that still stood only about a meter in front of me. All of the wolf's attention was focused solely on the stag, so it certainly didn't notice when the black dog came barreling back onto the scene. The dog slammed into the werewolf's back again, smashing its massive shoulder into the beast and forcing it to keel backwards down the slope. I looked on in vague shock as the werewolf tumbled backwards, the dog watching carefully.

The werewolf snarled as it scrambled to its feet and glared calculatingly at the dog. Thankfully though, after a horrible moment where I expected another attack, it leaped backwards and darted out across the grounds, growling and howling all the way. The dog glanced at me for a moment, seeing the stag at my side and giving a strange, doggy grin. Lightning-quick, he bounded over and snatched up my blue plaid pajamas in his teeth. I had no chance to protest this thievery other than releasing a surprised yelp, because within seconds the dog had ran and followed the werewolf deep into the Forbidden Forest. In less than a minute I couldn't even hear either beast anymore.

I sat there in disbelief, wondering how the hell I had gotten myself into this situation and whether or not I was dreaming.

A sharp pull of pain from my knee made me gasp, letting me know that this was all too real.

The stag turned slightly at the sound, his huge liquid eyes staring at me intently. I gulped as I took in the majesty of his sleek fur, powerful build, and thick prongs of antlers. "Thank you," I rasped out, feeling slightly foolish at speaking to the animal. There was obviously something unusual about this stag, though, and a thank-you couldn't possibly hurt. "Thank you for saving me," I repeated, searching his glossy eyes for a reason why this animal had decided to help me escape from a predator like a werewolf.

The stag stepped closer until he was right at my side, his eyes never leaving mine. Lowering his head, the great animal nosed my shoulder. I smiled, taking that as a sort of 'you're welcome' from him. "I don't suppose you could help me stand up?" I asked dryly.

To my surprise, the stag nosed at my right arm until I lifted it, slipping its thick, muscled neck between my arm and torso and tugging upward. I blinked in confusion for a moment before understanding what was going on, then tried to stay still as the stag pulled me off the ground. Carefully, I leaned on the animal's slippery neck and hoisted myself slowly to my feet. My knee jarred a little as I stood, and I cursed under my breath at the pain. "Thanks again," I told the stag, rubbing its neck gratefully. "You're very intelligent for an animal, you know."

The stag stared at me for a moment, looking almost indecisive, if a beast could look so. "What?" I prompted, looking into its glossy dark eyes. "You've got something to say?"

The stag stared at me for another moment. Then without warning, its body morphed, condensing inward and upward. I'm ashamed to say I yelped a bit, staring in complete shock as my arm slung over the stag's neck suddenly lifted to become slung around the shoulders of a certain familiar teenage boy.

"My mum says I'm intelligent for an animal as well," James Potter informed me, hazel eyes serious as they stared me down. There was no hint of his usual cocky attitude even as he said that silly little reply, only slightly guarded caution.

I couldn't do anything but gawk for a moment, sputtering and gaping at the boy now standing beside me. "But- you were- but- stag- you- stag- but?" I stammered out, struggling to reconcile the elegant, protective stag with this goofball of a Gryffindor.

James didn't laugh, still watching me carefully as I attempted to speak properly. "Lily, I'm an animagus," he said slowly. Those big, serious eyes were searching my face, filled with a curiously undefinable emotion that made me catch my breath and realize I had stumbled upon a lot more than just a rogue werewolf on this full moon.

 **it's been a long time since I've been on this site, hehe. If you're CBT and reading this... don't judge me. if you don't know what CBT is, then carry on and I hope you like the story (:**

 **P.S. this isn't the end =P**

 **~TMI~**


	2. Chapter 2

**I'm going to post this pretty quickly, since it's already written (: I'm just editing and adding a few things as I go. This probably isn't what anyone wants to see me post if anyone still wants me to post at all lol, so I do apologize for that. At this point I'm in college and slowly losing all the sanity I have left, so it's not the most conducive to being an effective Fanfiction writer =P anyway, enjoy (:**

"I seem to have realized that!" I snapped, glaring fiercely up at my fellow head student. Honestly, how thick did he think I was? "Unregistered, I'm sure, or you'd probably be flaunting this achievement as well. Don't tell me - the werewolf, dog, and rat are actually your fellow marauders?"

His silence was all I needed in confirmation - who else would those animals have been? I groaned, slumping against James' side and letting him carry my weight for a moment as I tried to process this newfound information. This was all I needed - these four morons running around the school as illegal beasts. I bet my wand that Sirius was the dog and Peter the rat based solely on personality and appearance. But that could only mean that… "Remus is a werewolf?" I asked, surprised to find that I was only mildly alarmed.

"Yes," James admitted, running the hand that wasn't wrapped around me in support through his hair. "I know you won't spread it around though, right Lily? That's the only reason I even changed right now, because I know you won't do that to him."

I sighed. "Of course not. Remus is my friend," I replied dismissively. I'd think more about it later, but I would eat my wand if Remus had chosen to be a werewolf, so I couldn't really blame him. His friends, however, had clearly chosen to go through with their transformations. "Honestly Potter, becoming an Animagus? That is so irresponsible! Why are you all running around school grounds with a werewolf? That could be dangerous!"

"Relax Lils, we know what we're doing," James assured me. I scowled, not any more convinced by his confidence than I usually was. "We managed to make sure he didn't get near you, didn't we?" he tried to say.

That was an awful example of competence in keeping Remus under control. "I nearly died!" I yelled, causing James to jump a little at my shrillness. "You call that knowing what you're doing?"

"Remus is my friend. And I wouldn't let him hurt you," James informed me seriously. The moonlight glinted off his glasses, masking his eyes from me in a silver sheen across the lenses. I shivered in the light breeze, my anger cooling with the sudden chill as I remembered something rather pressing.

"I'm not wearing pants!" I shrieked, shying away from James' teenage-boy hands. "Get away from me!" I jumped quickly out of his reach.

Unfortunately, my knee did not approve of jumping. It decided to voice its views on the subject rather forcefully too. Which, to be translated, meant that my knee buckled and I fell down in a surge of blinding pain.

Oh, joy.

"Lily?" James queried worriedly, crouching down beside my now-prone body and reaching out as if to touch my shoulder. "What hurts?"

"My left knee," I gritted out, knowing that I had no choice but to accept any help that James could give. I was in my knickers in the middle of the grounds at 3 AM on a cold night, injured and alone except for him. There wasn't much else I could do, other than hobble up to the castle on one very cold, pantsless leg. "It twisted badly when I fell." I relented somewhat unhappily to giving James a bit more information, poking at the slightly swollen knob. It didn't appreciate that very much, throbbing dully in response.

James winced, leaning down to inspect my knee. A sudden thought popped into my head that I really wished I had spent more time in the sun recently- my legs looked washed out and milk-white in the moonlight. And I really should exercise more often… was it just me or did my thighs look a bit pudgy? Perhaps I should try to curb my sweets-while-studying tendencies.

Oh Merlin, when was the last time I had shaved? I couldn't remember. James really was looking at my leg far too closely to be comfortable. "I don't want you to try to fix it," I said quickly, wanting his eyes averted from my embarrassing legs. I did not like feeling this self-conscious because those familiar hazel eyes were locked on my poor exposed limbs. "I'll die of hypothermia out here if we stay any longer, and I don't want my knee to explode because you don't know exactly what you're trying to fix."

James' eyes finally lifted from my legs, and I relaxed slightly. Then I realized he was grinning at me, his mouth crooked at the left like it always was when he was particularly amused. "You have beautiful legs, Lily. There's nothing to be self-conscious about," he told me innocently.

I felt heat rise to my face, a notable change from the freezing cold I had been dealing with before. "Shut your trap," was my far too late, far too inelegant reply. James' smirk informed me he knew exactly how much embarrassment I was dealing with right now. Prat.

"Just help me back to the castle, Potter," I sighed, reluctantly raising my arms up so he could help me to my feet. James only smiled, carefully lifting me so that I was balanced on my good leg. James retrieved my loafers and pajama shirt from the pile I had left them in, quietly helping me balance while I put my arms into the shirtsleeves and quickly buttoned it up. I wrinkled my nose at my muddy legs, casting a couple quick Scourgifies to clean the muck off before slipping my loafers back on. "Stupid Sirius stole my pajamas," I muttered under my breath, internally cursing the devilish boy. He probably thought it would be hilarious to make me walk back to the castle in my knickers, especially with James beside me.

"How are you planning on walking back to the head dormitory from here when you're all pantsless and crippled?" James asked, raising an eyebrow. "Come to think of it, why were you even out of the dormitory and stripping by the lake in the first place?" James looked confused as it finally occurred to him to wonder what I was doing out here in this state.

"I wasn't in the head dormitory, I was in the Gryffindor common room," I explained. "It's Marlene's birthday, so we were having a sleepover in the common room, which included truth or dare-"

"Ah," James interrupted, a look of understanding dawning on his face. "The old 'skinny dip in the lake' dare. Was it Marly who got you?"

Now it was my turn to be confused. "Uh, yeah," I confirmed. "How did you know?…"

James nodded wisely, as if he was some sort of omnipotent god. "That's one of Marly's favorites when the quidditch team plays truth or dare," he explained, grinning in a way I wasn't sure I liked. "Well now that that's cleared up, I'll take you back to the Gryffindor common room."

I raised an eyebrow at him, crossing my arms over my chest. "You will?" I asked doubtfully. "How so?"

"I'll carry you," James replied, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You can't be heavier than Sabrina Hullbane, and I had to carry her from the pitch all the way up to the infirmary yesterday."

I bristled at the mention of Sabrina. She had always irritated me vaguely, with her constant chatter and inability to stick to one boyfriend at a time. Yesterday she had been bragging to all of the seventh year girls that James Potter had carried her all the way to the infirmary after she fell from her broom on the pitch during Hufflepuff's practice, and oh girls, he had definitely had a hand on her butt the whole time. And oh girls, wasn't he so strong and handsome and kind, and oh girls, he was so concerned about her! Oh girls, it was adorable! Oh girls!

"Lily?" James asked hesitantly, pulling me from my thoughts.

"Don't compare me to Sabrina Hullbane ever again," I said somewhat snippily, trying to get her irritating voice out of my head. "And you will not be carrying me anywhere."

James' brow furrowed in confusion at my tone. "What's wrong with Sabrina? And why not? You're injured, and I can help." James took a step forward, reaching as if he was going to pluck me right off the ground whether I liked it or not.

Oh no he didn't! I was not a doll to be picked up and carried about. I took a swift step backwards on my good foot, dodging James. "She's been prattling on about how you carried her to the infirmary since Madam Pomfrey released her. Did you know she's been telling everyone you were groping her quite enthusiastically on that trip?" I took a wicked sense of satisfaction from the horrified look on James' face. Poor oblivious boy. He never quite seemed to figure out how manipulative girls like Sabrina were. "I don't want to be your next groping victim, after all," I added innocently, doing my best to look properly scandalized.

"I didn't touch any of her!" James protested vehemently, looking seriously alarmed. He didn't seem to realize I was partially just messing with him; it appeared that James thought I honestly viewed him as a creepy groping sort of bloke. "I swear I didn't, Lily! I don't grope injured girls!"

Although I didn't want to admit it, a small part of me was glad to hear James shoot down Sabrina's rumors so passionately. He sounded positively horrified that his good deed had been twisted like that. Sabrina wouldn't be getting anywhere near enough to James now for anyone to believe that he actually liked her, although I wasn't really sure why I cared about that bit. "I don't know," I continued, not feeling like letting James get off the hook too easily. I really didn't like Sabrina, after all, and those rumors had really been irritating me. Preventing any more of her awful gossip was reason enough to get her away from him. "I'm not even wearing pants. That's kind of vulnerable in my position."

Now James was starting to look desperate for me to believe he wasn't a perv. His panic was only very slightly, minutely endearing, and I refused to contemplate it for very long. "Come on Lily, I'm not like that!" he pleaded. "I only want to help you back to the castle!"

I pretended to consider it. "Fine, I'll admit that I think Sabrina's rumors are false," I conceded. I had to suppress a grin at the relieved look taking over James' face. He got worked up very easily, like an excitable puppy. "But I still don't want you to carry me," I added.

"It'll be the fastest," James argued. He stepped forward again, and this time I couldn't step backward again, unwilling to put weight on my left leg.

"And the most undignified," I added, tilting my chin up defiantly and trying to seem like I was in control.

Nevertheless, James reached one arm around my waist, trying to pull me off the ground to carry me bridal style as if I hadn't said a word. "James Potter, don't even try," I snapped, squirming as relentlessly as possible without hurting my knee in the process. "I don't want to be carried like a damsel in distress."

James sighed in defeat at my squirminess, but kept his arm around my waist as he settled me firmly on the ground once more. I was relieved that he wasn't pushing the issue. I honestly just didn't want to be carried about like a pathetic sack of flour, especially not by James. "Use me as a crutch then?" he suggested hopefully. "I only want to help you, Lily."

I couldn't help but smile a little at his sincerity. As robustly irritating as the boy could be, he did have some positive points to his colorful character. "Fine, but you're going to have lots of fun stooping over so your shoulder is my level," I informed him cheekily, slinging my left arm over his shoulder and gingerly testing the weight on my injured leg. It was painful, but doable to step a bit on it with James' support.

"If it helps you," James replied, shrugging as nonchalantly as he could with my weight now about his neck. Somehow, he still managed to make the move look graceful. "Let's go."

We set off at an awkward pace towards the castle. After twenty meters or so, James ended up basically having to lift me forward on every step I took with my left foot, since my left knee voiced its pain in the form of blinding agony every time I bent it. I resolutely refused to admit that James carrying me would have been a much faster and more comfortable solution. This alternate plan was working out alright and was a far less awkward situation than him carrying me around would have been. I couldn't just let James hold me against his chest with his arms wrapped under my bare legs and around my very thinly clothed torso. I didn't like to admit it, obviously, but James was a rather physically handsome sort of male, and I didn't want my treacherous biological tendencies to focus on that fact. I was rather afraid that if I was scooped up in the warmth of his arms for too long, such a terrible thing like unavoidable physical attraction might just happen. I simply preferred not to feel attracted to gits if I could avoid it, and in this case I could do something to avoid it.

Anyway, it was not a proper situation for head students to be wandering around the grounds at night, one half-naked and the other an unregistered animagus.

"Are you always this breakable?" James asked after a few moments of silence.

I paused for a moment, childhood memories of the broken arms and purple and gray bruises that had been trophies of my many escapades flooding through my mind. "I was a bit of a rambunctious child," I admitted, smiling slightly at the thought of the flowers and stick figures Petunia had doodled on my cast when we were seven and didn't yet know that I was a witch or that she would hate me in a few years. "I got into a lot of scrapes that left me a bit roughed up."

"You were rambunctious?" James repeated incredulously. "But you're such a bookworm all the time, and you don't really show any interest in quidditch or such-"

"Just because I like to read and I don't like quidditch all that much doesn't mean I was a stick-in-the-mud child," I shot back, rolling my eyes. "I read a lot of books, yes, but then I would go play outside and reenact everything... and sometimes fighting pirates up a tree meant losing my balance while swinging my sword and falling out of said tree."

James let out a laugh, grinning at the image I painted of tiny pirate Lily. He listened intently as I described my favorite make-believe games inspired by my books, which was probably why I kept talking. He even traded me a few stories of his own, including a ridiculous story about trying to hijack his father's broom in hopes of playing "big boy quidditch" at age six. It was surprisingly easy to talk to James when he wasn't being a prat, and it made the painful trip back to the castle a little less arduous.

Everything with our James-is-my-bent-over-human-crutch-lifting-my-weight-every-other-step-so-my-knee-doesn't-die shindig was working out well enough when coupled with the story exchanging— until the first staircase.

James and I stopped at the base of the stairs, gazing up the long ascent to the next floor. We could see the next stairway from here, an even longer one that I knew from experience was equipped with a false step possible to get stuck in. That would most likely be unimaginably painful if my injured leg were to get trapped in it.

At the same time, James and I looked at each other. "Carrying time?" he suggested, looking irritatingly hopeful. Something in my chest gave an irritatingly nice-feeling twinge when I looked at that hopeful face, which I did not approve of. He was far too set on the whole carrying thing to be considered healthy.

Maybe he really was planning on touching my butt. I wouldn't be overly surprised, considering his marauding, flirting reputation.

"I'm sure I can think of a solution that doesn't involve carrying," I dismissed both his suggestion and the feeling that had started wiggling down toward my tummy with a little too much effort. "You could levitate me up the stairs. Or, say, conjure me a pair of pants to wear."

"Why don't you conjure your own pants?" James asked impishly, raising an eyebrow. I glared at him, knowing full well that he was aware of my fatal flaw: conjuring clothing. I had no idea why, but I simply couldn't manage it. It baffled the professors how I worked so hard and could perform the most difficult of charms without a hitch, but couldn't even conjure up a mitten or a sock.

I liked to think it was because fashion and I had never really mixed, whether magic or muggle. Petunia was the more fashionable one in my family, and I tended to live off of hand-me-downs from her most of the time. My clothes tended to have problems with me and decided to hold grudges: such as my pajamas running off with Sirius Black in giant dog form. That was one rejection that really stung. Even flannel pants preferred Sirius' company to mine.

I shook myself from my bitter, clothing-related thoughts just in time to register James pulling out his wand. My only thoughts were that he was taking my suggestion to levitate me up the stairs seriously, or maybe he was going to be nice and conjure me a pair of pants to wear.

Instead, he summoned his damn broom.

"Accio Kiteflyer 3000," James announced, flicking his wand.

I scowled at him, pulling my left arm off of his shoulders so I could cross it over my chest with the right one. "Why did you summon your broom instead of doing something useful?" I demanded.

James grinned roguishly as his broom appeared above us, zooming down to fall right into James' hand. He let go, and the broom floated down to mounting height. I tried not to envy the skill he had just because my own control over a broomstick was nowhere near as finessed.

"I just realized that if you're so dead set on not being carried, it would be much easier to just fly up to Gryffindor tower," he explained. James reached for me again, nudging me toward the broom. "Go on now. Hop on," he instructed.

"I can't sit normally on a broom. That involves too much knee work for my body to approve of right now," I complained. I eyed the Kiteflyer warily. I had heard those things could fly extremely fast, and I was not a fan of fast-flying brooms. I barely tolerated the speed of the cruddy brooms that the school provided for students to learn to fly on. Climbing trees after imaginary pirates was one thing, and flying a magical broom was another.

James thought for a moment, then nodded, apparently accepting my argument. "All right then," he agreed. I watched in surprise as he mounted the broom anyway. Was he going to fly off without me and leave me pantsless at the bottom of the stairs all night? I didn't think he was that cruel, regardless of how much we bothered each other all the time. He had helped me this far, after all!

Before I could open my mouth to question his actions, James had reached over and once more snaked an arm around my waist, pulling me towards him. My knee flashed a warning bolt of pain at me, buckling and making me stumble blindly backward to try to move my weight off of it.

Long story short, I ended up landing practically in James' lap.

"What are you doing, Potter?" I demanded, pleased to find that I still had my calm, indignant voice handy instead of sounding as embarrassingly shrill and flustered as the voice in my head did.

"You can ride sidesaddle," James explained, gesturing down at my legs. I looked down, only to realize that he had caught me so that I sat with both legs dangling off to one side, my left knee firmly packaged between my right one and James' leg.

"How is this safe at all?" I demanded, feeling very unbalanced even when we were only about a meter off the floor. I didn't want to think about how it would feel once we started moving. "I'm going to fall off flying this way."

"No you aren't," James disagreed. "I've got you." A pressure tightened around my waist, and I realized that somehow I had acquired a seatbelt without noticing. James had one arm curled firmly around my stomach, keeping my back snug against his chest while his other arm reached around my shoulder to guide the front of the broom. I was practically surrounded by James.

And it wasn't altogether unpleasant either. Damn, this might prove to be more dangerous than the carrying scenario...

 **hehe (: who knows, maybe I'll get back into writing fanfiction once this whole cognitive science degree thing falls through =P**

 **~TMI~**


	3. OOPS

**OMG I NEVER ADDED THE LAST CHAPTER. I'M SO SORRY I'M THE WORST even though there's only a few people reading this, I feel bad for those of you that I kept waiting. I found this out cuz some people in my college marching band like to bring up my fanfiction past every now and then, so I guess you can thank them XD especially James and Josh =P**

A yawn escaped my lips before I could protest. Apparently I was more tired than I had thought. A quick glance at the watch on my wrist informed me that it was a little past 3:30. My friends in the common room were probably worrying about me now that the SpyScoper was destroyed and I hasn't reappeared yet. I sighed wearily. My stupid conscience was going to make me take the fastest route back to assuage their worry quickly, wasn't it.

My suspicions were confirmed when I heard myself agree to flying. "All I wanted was a pair of pants," I grumbled.

James let out a laugh, the vibrations reverberating through his chest and down my back. "You got me instead. What a lucky girl," he teased.

My only response was to elbow him as best as I could from this position and clutch tighter onto the broom handle in front of me as James started to guide the Kiteflyer upwards. "If I get splinters in my butt, I'm going to Avada you," I threatened.

James had the nerve to simply laugh again before starting to ascend the stairs. I immediately leaned back into the solid safety of James' chest, terrified as I watched the stairs zoom by underneath my dangling legs. There was a reason I didn't like flying. I had very little coordination to boast about, which is generally significant if one wishes to stay astride a broomstick.

"Calm down Lily, we're barely moving," James murmured in my ear. I was squished so close against him in my desperate attempts to stay balanced that he barely had to move his head at all to speak to me.

"This is much faster than walking," I managed to casually reply, although my voice sounded smaller than I would've liked. Flying wasn't the greatest even on its own, and sitting sideways on a broom while someone else was whizzing it up the stairs was not something I enjoyed. I tried to scoot forward on the broom; I partially blamed the annoying weakness in my voice on the proximity of the boy behind me.

"Not really," James disagreed. He nudged the broom left to turn up a different staircase, and I nearly toppled sideways off the broom. Pain spiked through my knee as I tried to balance myself, and I let out a shrill squeak. "Are you okay?" James demanded, sounding a little panicked. His grip tightened around my torso, drawing me closer against him. I could feel the planes of his very solid abdomen against my back, the beat of his heart, his body heat soaking through the thin fabric of my camisole. His hand spread across my waist, long fingers wrapped around my hip. It made me shiver, but in an annoyingly pleasant, warm sort of way.

I sucked in a breath to calm myself. "It's just my knee," I replied, a tad breathlessly, but obviously only because of my injury. "It really hurts."

"Maybe I should take you to the hospital wing instead," James murmured, sounding conflicted.

"No, don't!" I begged hastily, twisting haphazardly on the broom to look up into his very startled eyes. Somehow, I didn't fall off. "Pomfrey can't see me like this! I'll have to explain, and I can't do that Potter, I just can't."

"Okay Lily, we don't have to," he replied soothingly, obviously confused by my adamancy to forgo a hospital wing visit. "I'm just worried about the damage you did to your knee."

"I'll go see Pomfrey tomorrow, don't think about it," I said dismissively, settling back into my seat leaning against him and refocusing on not falling off the broom.

"I can't help but think about you," James said softly.

Well, I didn't really have a reply to that. It wasn't as if I was unaware of the emotional tensions that had been rising between us for awhile now, but it also wasn't as if I was going to acknowledge them. I didn't exactly know how to feel about James Potter when he was acting like a normal human being instead of an annoying git. It was easier to simply not figure out how to feel and move past comments like that.

We rode in silence for awhile after that, slowly ascending staircases while I tried to muffle squeaks of pain from my knee jolting around. James always caught them though, and after awhile he insisted on keeping one hand on my leg so my knee would be pressed to his and unable to move around anymore. I was fairly positive my cheeks were blazing at that point, what with James Potter's long fingers wrapped about my thigh, and was extremely thankful he couldn't see my face at the moment.

He was a git, but if this was how Sabrina Hullbane felt while he carried her up to the hospital wing then I almost couldn't blame her for her giddiness. James was an irritatingly intoxicating sort of person. I'd spent seven years pushing past the effects of his charm, but it still got to me when I spent too much time with him, this current misadventure included.

Three small spats of bickering, eighteen stifled gasps of pain, and 9 incriminatingly kind thoughts toward James Potter later, we stood at the entrance to the portrait hole, me leaning slightly on the wall to support myself. The Fat Lady was snoozing in her frame, completely unaware of our presence. "Thanks," I said softly, avoiding eye contact with James.

"It's only my Head Boy duty to keep the Head Girl in line," he teased. I grinned sheepishly, acknowledging that he had indeed helped me out of a scrape tonight.

"I'll owe you one, Potter," I promised, hoping I wouldn't regret it.

James nudged my chin with the back of his hand, startling me into looking up at him. "I'll cash that favor in now," he informed me quietly. "Call me James. It's my name, you know."

I looked away again, unable to look in his eyes when he spoke like that. It made me wonder if he ever fought with his thoughts about me the way I did with my thoughts about him. He'd always been flirtatious, but never seemed to show any sign of the kind of powerful, conflicting feelings I struggled with.

But that was beside the point. It couldn't hurt to let him waste his favor on me giving up using his surname."Okay," I finally conceded, staring intently at a flagstone under the toes of my loafers.

"Okay who?" he prompted.

"Okay, James."

I chanced a peek up, and found him smiling at me in a way I was completely unprepared to see. Damn these butterflies; my stomach didn't get the memo on avoiding reacting to this kid. "You don't know how amazing it feels to hear that from you," James breathed, taking a step forward.

"Your own name turns you on? What a narcissist," I tried to joke. My voice only came out breathless and nervous though, ruining the lighthearted effect I had been aiming for.

"You want to know what turns me on, Lily Evans?" James asked, stepping forward again. I found myself suddenly encased between him and the wall right beside the sleeping Fat Lady. How the bloody hell had that happened?

"Umm, no?" I squeaked, feeling my hands reach up of their own accord. I wondered what they were doing, only to realize that they had traveled to rest on James' chest as I stared up at him. Oh no, I was a little afraid that I _wasn't_ afraid of the direction this was going.

"Umm, yes," James teased breathlessly. He wrapped his arms loosely around my waist, and for a moment I couldn't find the words to protest. Before I knew what was happening, James had bent down lightning fast and scooped me into the air, so quickly that even my fussy knee didn't have time to protest. I let out a small surprised yelp, but it wasn't even enough to wake the Fat Lady before the sound was halted with James' lips.

I dangled in the air, completely at James' mercy as he held me close and kissed me surprisingly softly. He turned and stumbled backwards a step so he could lean against the wall, and I was helpless to do anything but cling to him for balance. He was holding me in just the way I hadn't wanted him to carry me earlier, and his arms had the exact effect on me that I had feared they would. My body melted far too easily into his touch, and I couldn't help but let James Potter kiss me. It was shocking and warm, unacceptable and sweet, alarming and intoxicating - basically everything that such a kiss represented.

Embarrassingly enough, he was the one to pull away first. At first I couldn't bring myself to open my eyes and look at him, but when I finally did, I'm fairly certain they were wider than they had ever been before. "James?" I asked, my voice cracking slightly.

James actually groaned, setting me down carefully on the floor before smiling again. "My name in your voice," he stated abruptly. "Your insults. Your hand on my arm. Your quick little retorts when I say something dumb. When you flick your hair around. When one of your socks is rolled higher than the other and I try not to get caught staring at your legs. Pretty much anything to do with Lily Evans."

"What are you on about?" I demanded, feeling my cheeks flush from both his words and the aftereffects of the kiss. I fought the urge to raise a hand to touch my lips.

"You wanted to know what turned me on," he replied, a devilish little smirk tugging at his mouth.

I gaped at James. I was caught between trying to remember all the details he had just listed out and trying to figure out how to respond to them, and consequently couldn't bring myself to speak at all.

"Oh," he spoke up again. "And one more thing."

James moved closer again, his head tilted down closer to my level. Moonlight glinted a little off the lenses of his glasses, and I couldn't see the expression in his eyes. My breath caught in my throat a little as I stood there, rather paralyzed from this onslaught of both physical and emotional sensation. He was going to kiss me again, and at this point I was barely even surprised to realize that I wasn't the smallest bit upset about that.

"The one thing that really gets me, Lily, is just…" James murmured, his breath warm against my skin. I tried not to let the obvious teasing affect me, but I wasn't sure how effectively I was resisting.

Lightning fast, James reached out, snapped the elastic of knickers against my hip, making me gasp with surprise. He pressed another quick kiss to my mouth before leaping backward and hopping on his broom. Before I could even begin to react, he had laughed, called out, "Orange knickers!" and zoomed off down the hall and out of sight.

Was I even surprised that he had to end this encounter on a line like that?

My mouth quirked into a smile before I could bring myself to stop it. No, I wasn't, and for some reason his antics didn't bother me as much as usual when preceded by a kiss like that.

When I finally stumbled into the Gryffindor common room, my head swirling with confusion over how I was going to handle myself around James now and my knee throbbing with pain, my friends all let out giggles and catcalls, blissfully unaware of how awry the dare had gone.

"Did you break my SpyScoper?" Marlene accused, pouting up at me from behind her bottle of butterbeer. "We've been waiting for ages since the connection broke!"

"You don't look very wet! Did you actually do it?" Em pressed further, getting up from her seat in front of the fire to inspect me more closely.

"You look like a changed woman, Lils," Petra giggled, probably noting the distinct change that had overcome me since I had left. "So is skinny dipping that much of an experience?"

They all waited for my answers, grinning and innocent.

I opened my mouth, at a loss of what I could even say to them about this late night escapade. Three sets of expectant eyes were locked on me, and my mind raced through the events of the past hour before halting on a very crucial detail. My eyes narrowed.

"For the love of Merlin, Sirius Black still has my pants!"

 **not the best, not the worst? maybe I'll edit it when I'm not drowning in the pits of hell they call 'final week of instruction.' review if you'd like (:**

 **~TMI~**


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